It’s the turning of a leaf for a team from the south-side of St. Pete. An adversity filled 2011 season ended with a 3-7 record for the Gibbs Gladiators.
“It’s a different atmosphere now because everyone has come together as a family,” head coach Antonio Knox says.
The Gladiators have had an extremely successful says Knox who described it as “probably been the most productive offseason there has been at Gibbs.”
One of the biggest pluses that Knox and the rest of the coaching staff has seen is a huge increase in students coming out to football meetings and workouts.
“We have had over 45-50 kids coming out and we still got kids playing other sports,” says Knox. “7 on 7 has been great. A strong point this year is that we’re just going to add depth. Its very exciting. Its quietly getting better and everyone is understanding what it takes.”
The Gibbs’ coaching staff attributes the increase in numbers, in part, to its rival, Lakewood.
“I think it’s a testament to the coaching staff and a testament to Lakewood HS. Lakewood is our rival and they have ended up getting on a hot streak and its one of those things that we’ve been doing 7 on 7 with them and we want to challenge Lakewood,” he says.
Gibbs will take on Manatee on May 25 in its spring game – something everyone is looking forward to.
-COACH DROPS SOME NAMES-
Emmanuel Stewart — is the driving force behind everything. Hes getting kids to come out. He’s rehabbing well. He’s back right now and he’s been out there everyday. Hes been a great leader. It’s a testament to the kids, the seniors. For him missing last year he has dedicated himself to coming back by storm and people are really going to have to recognize him. Hes hungry. He’s a good leader. He gets everyone here and to practice.
Maurice Hall (2014) — The problem with Maurice is that we don’t know where we’re going to play him. He is so versatile that he can do a lot of things. He can play WR, RB, S, CB, LB, DE – his biggest asset is probably his special teams. He is a gunner, returns kicks, punts. The sky is the limit for the kids. He just started lifting weights this year. This is the first time he has ever been on a workout program. He’s also playing basketball, running track and playing with Team Tampa at WR so he’s doing a lot of different things and he’s only scratching the surface.
Albert Laskett (2014) — this kid is very talented. He could be as good as Gary Simon. You see the same flash in him that you saw in Gary. He is 5-11 190 and stronger. Offensively he is going to be an ATH, defensively he is going to play CB and has the same lockdown ability as Gary. He started at Lakewood his freshman year, transferred here last year and didn’t play.
We have six DBs that we’re working with right now that can compete. Only one is a junior, the rest are sophomores. Patrick Jones was our JV quarterback last year, pulled up last year and played some varsity QB – he’s playing SS this year. He will be an impact player. Xavier Kirnes is a lockdown CB. Robert Daniels is a kid that played WR last year and we’re moving him to CB. The kid that has probably had the greatest offseason is Chris Adams. He is a kid that started as a sophomore last year, but he didn’t really learn how to play the position. He has improved tremendously. He is a budding star at linebacker. He understands the game and all of the reads.
QB — We’ve got about five kids going at it, but Patrick Jones is a kid that started last year and is in the mix. Derrick Ramsey is about 6-4 185 and he is in the mix. He plays JV basketball – didn’t play football last year. We’ve got a couple 9th graders that will compete for the position too. We’ll see how it rolls in the spring.
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Kyle is a recruiting analyst for Big County Preps. You can email him at Bennett@bigcountypreps.com and follow him on Twitter @KyleBennettBCP.